Cactus and Llama Advent Calendar.

I don't know about you, but one of my favorite Christmas traditions when I was a child was the advent calendar. That little daily treat every morning got me out of bed and made the countdown to Christmas deliciously fun. Now the tradition has been passed down to Violet and she's a big fan!

This year, I decided I should make her an advent calendar that was like a Christmas village since we don't have one. I wanted it to be fun and colorful and something a little different. I've been obsessing over llamas and cacti all year so it was the obvious choice. I grabbed my toilet paper roll stash, a couple little boxes and all the green paper I could find.

I didn't really anticipate how much work 24 individual projects were going to be, so just know this does take some time. Believe me though, this is so worth it! We opted for just little holiday candies since I wanted to keep it more classic, but the rolls and boxes could fit little toys or balloons. If Violet had a choice they would have been lipglosses ;)

I hope you enjoy this project as much as I do. This little llama town brings so much color and joy to our holiday decor and it's a sure conversation starter. So grab your supplies and get your advent calendar on!!

WHAT YOU NEED:

Green paper in a variety of colors

White presentation flimsy board

Paint

Glue

Tape

Small boxes (I got a 12 pack of paper party favor bags in the bridal section of Dollar Tree and cut the handles off and topped it with another one to make a box)

Toilet paper rolls

Scissors

Black marker

Candy and/or small toys

Pom pom ribbon (optional)

HOW TO DO IT:

1. Cut your toilet paper roll to size you want it or leave it as is. I varied in sizes for mine.

2. Glue a piece of paper to the bottom of the toilet paper roll and wrap up around the roll. This will give you a bottom so the treats can stay inside.

3. Fill with your candy or little prizes and top roll with another piece of paper closing in the candy.

4. Wrap toilet paper roll in matching color of top and bottom, leaving some room at the top to round out with scissors.

5. Cut arms our of same paper and fold slightly at the bottom of the arm. Glue onto roll.

6. Paint on spikes in white or add strips of different colored paper to the cactus.

7. Get creative and see how many different types of cactus you can do! I ended up making 18 cacti and 6 llamas.

8. Draw out your llama on a presentation board. You want to make it bigger then the box and make sure the legs are evenly on the ground so they can stand on their own. I kept it simple with the look, but feel free to get as artistic as you want on your llamas.

9. Trace your llama 11 times and cut them out. You should have 12 llamas now. Pair 6 up with a partner llama as the other side of so it can stand up.

10. Decide which way you want your llama to go and then paint on a blanket saddle, inner ears, feet and nose. Use black marker for the eyelashes.

11. Glue box to other side of painted llama to the llama faces out. Glue on partner llama to the other side of the box and allow to dry.

12. Fill with treats and top box.

13. Glue on pom pom ribbon around blanket of the llamas. I did 3 of the 6 so they were all a bit different. This is an optional step. You can draw on tassles or make your own pom poms. I got mine on Amazon.

14. Cut out small circles and number them 1-24. Glue randomly onto llamas and cacti to mark the day they get opened.

15. Place your little cacti village with the llamas and enjoy your treats for the next 24 days!